Merry Brandybuck learned of the One Ring and its power of invisibility before Bilbo Baggins left the Shire.
10 Facts About Merry Brandybuck
1.
2.
Merry Brandybuck guarded Bag End after Bilbo's party, protecting Frodo from unwanted guests.
3.
Merry Brandybuck was a force behind "the Conspiracy" of Sam, Pippin, Fredegar Bolger and himself to help Frodo.
4.
Merry Brandybuck inherited the title Master of Buckland at the start of the Fourth Age.
5.
At the age of 102, Merry Brandybuck returned to Rohan and Gondor with Pippin; they died in Gondor, and were laid to rest among the Kings of Gondor in Rath Dinen, the street of tombs, then moved to lie next to Aragorn.
6.
When Merry Brandybuck first appeared in Tolkien's early drafts, his name was Drogo Took.
7.
Merry Brandybuck was later renamed Vigo, and the name Drogo reassigned to Frodo's father.
8.
Merry Brandybuck writes that both leaders receive the allegiance of a hobbit, but very differently: Theoden, King of Rohan, treats Merry with love, which is reciprocated, whereas Denethor, Steward of Gondor, undervalues Pippin because he is small, and binds him with a harsh formal oath.
9.
In Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated version of The Lord of the Rings, Merry Brandybuck was voiced by Simon Chandler.
10.
Merry Brandybuck was portrayed by Sergey Shelgunov in the 1991 Russian television play Khraniteli, and by Jarmo Hyttinen in the 1993 Finnish miniseries Hobitit.